Matthew a



(No Model.)

M. A. BATSON.

RAPID FIELD SKBTGHING CASE. No. 5,696. Z

1 1/ I 4 MS Pat enisd Sept.

w'flJ-mw BY ATTY'S.

W IT N ES 8 ES I 1H: NORRIS PETERS 00.. FNOTOUYHQ, WASHINGTON, u. c.

UNITE TAT-ES .I FICQ ATENT RAPID-FlELD-SKETCHING c sE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 590,696, dated September 28, 1897.

Application filed May 27, 1896. Serial 110.593.221. (N0 model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, MATrHEw A. BATSON, a citizen of the United States, of the United States Army, and stationed at Willets Point, in the county of Queens and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Rapid -'Field Sketching Cases; and I do hereby declare the following to be afull, clear, and exact descriptionof the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings,'and to letters and figures of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

The object of this invention is to provide an instrument adapted to facilitate the makin g of road-m aps, for sketching positions, rivvers, &c. in military operations where rapidity with sufficient accuracy to explain tactical capabilities of the ground are the chief requisites, for making preliminary surveys for railroads, &c., for purposes of location and estimating the cost of building, and for all work of this nature where rapidity and cost of making surveys are important considerations, and to secure other advantages and results, some of which may be referred to hereinafter in connection with the description of the working parts.

The invention consists of the improved field-sketching device and in the arrangements and combinations of parts, all sub.- stantially as will be hereinafter set forth, and finally embraced in the clauses of the claim.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, in which like letters and figures of reference indicate corresponding parts in each of the views, Flgure 1 is a plan of the instrument or device. Fig.2 is a section of 'the same, taken on line m. Fig. 3 is a section on line y. Fig. 4 is a side elevation showing aclinometer apparatus and a foot-piece to which it isattached; and Fig. 5 is an enlarged section on line z, Fig. 1. Figs. 6 and 7 are detail sectional views of the ends of certain rollers and bearings.

v In said drawings, a, Fig. 1, represents a board or plate which for convenience may be about seven inches square, although the size may be varied at will to suit Varying conditions and circumstances. Atone side or edge of said board or plate the same is provided with what Ihave called a head-piece b, and at the opposite side or edge the said board or plate is provided with a foot-piece c. Said head and foot pieces are permanently fastened to said board and at their opposite ends slotted or open to receive the ends of a paper ribbon or long sheet to be rolled upon said rollers, the said slots providing means for fastening said sheet upon said rollers with sufficient security. At their ends said rollers are provided with end pieces 6, which are soldered or otherwise fixed in said rollers and are perforated centrally to receive pivotal pins or journals 6, one set of which is screwed into the foot-piece and enters-the end pieces e, and the other set is fixed into said end pieces, as shown in Fig. 7, so as to rotate with the rollers, as will be understood.

At one side of the device the rollers (Z or the parts (2', fixed thereto, are provided with milled heads f, by means of which said rollers are easily turned by the fingers to enable,

the paper to be changed in position on the board with facility, the paper being rolled up at one side and unrolledat the other.

To prevent'the paper unwinding while in use and to maintain the paper at a proper tension upon the board, I have provided friction devices or brakes for the fixed roller-journals.

These may be of any suitable construction,

but I prefer the construction shown in Fig. 5, where 9 indicates a bearing-piece inserted in the head-piece, which is suitably recessed at the side or chambered to receive the same. Said bearing-piece comprises a straight sprin g h, reinforced by a block 2', the latter being h'ollowed out on the upper side to receive the journal of the roller and enter 'in-to frictional relation therewith. The pressure of the friction-piece can be increased or diminished by means of a finger screw j, which passes through a nut is or other bearing of the headpiece and presses against the friction-piece on the side thereof opposite the said journal.

The paper is rolled from one roller to the other by simply turning the hand piece or head f in the proper direction.

At the opposite ends of the head and foot pieces are secured bars Z Z, of metal, which are attached by small screws 11?. or other suitable means so as to lie a little above the face of the drawing-plate a, and on said bars are arranged adjustable or sliding plates n, to which a circular protractor or annular plate 0 is attached at opposite sides. Said protractor is also raised above the face of the plate a and is movable in adirection perpendicular to the direction of movement of the paper. Thus by moving the paper in one direction or the other and sliding the protractor perpendicularly toward one end or the other of the board any point of the paper can be brought to the center of said protractor. A ruler p is carried at its opposite ends by said protractor, the said ruler being slotted or recessed at its opposite extremities to receive the inner edge of the same, as shown in Fig. 2. The end bearings of said ruler slide on the protractor, so as to secure a rotary movement of the same in a horizontal plane. The ruler is longitudin ally slotted in the preferred con struction to guide the pencil when the observeris mounted on horseback, for instance, and thus prevent irregular markings from being made. The slot 1) enables me also to have two different scales next adjacent to the sl0tfor example, one side having a scale of six inches to a mile and another of eight inches to the mile, aifording advantages which will be easily recognized by a practical observer.

The ruler, on opposite sides of the slot, is beveled downward toward said slot to guide the pencil into said slot and to enable a bluntpointed pencil to enter more readily. At the opposite ends the ruler is provided with sights q q, or projecting pin-points, in the line of the slot for alining the ruler at the marking edge thereof upon distant points to be plotted in upon the map by plane table methods well understood. At the extremities of the ruler the same is provided with an index-mark 0, adapted to be brought into coincidence with the degree-mark on the face of the protractor to enable the observer to obtain the reading with accuracy.

The bars I, on which the protractor slides, are also graduated, the graduation-marks of one bar corresponding with those of the other, so that said protractor may be setwith exactness in position to enable the degree-mark of said protractor to nicely accord in adjustment with the degree-marks of the compass.

The protractor arms or plates a provide bearings for clamp-screws s, by means of which said arms or plates are firmly set and fixed in their relation to the bars Z, so that in riding or manipulating the instrument the protractor will not be thrown out of adj ustment.

At one side of the ruler the same is provided with an integral arm t, lying preferably at right angles to the direction of the ruler, to serve in drawing lines at right angles to the ruler, to afford ahandle or fingerpiece by which the ruler may be turned within the protractor, and to receive means or provide bearings for said means by which the said ruler may be clamped in its relation to the protractor to maintain the ruler in position while traveling in the direction in which the said ruler is set. A scale on the said arm taifords means for setting off distances at right angles to the line of direction traveled. The ruler-clamp consists, preferably, of a spring clamping-arm it, fixed to the arm 15 and extending over the side of the protractor opposite that beneath which the arm 15 extends, the arm 25 being provided with a threaded shank v, on which a clamping-nut v for clamping said arm u to said protractor is arranged, the threaded shank extending through the spring-arm,as shown in Fig. 3. Embedded in the head-piece of the board is a magnetic compass w, which is adjustable in its relation to said head-piece. It is provided on the under side with a shank w, having a finger-piece 3 to facilitate turning and a setting-nut 4, by which the compass-box is fixed in position after being adjusted. On the transparent face of the compass a meridian-line 5 is marked, as indicated in Fig. 1, this line being brought into coincidence with the needle by means of the finger-piece 3. In starting out in any general direction the board is first turned so that the paper will lie longitudinally in the direction of travel proposed, after which said compass-box is turned in the board so that the meridian-line on the face of the compass will correspond with the needle. The compass-box is then clamped and held during the operations of that course. At one side of the box is ar ranged a clinometer apparatus, which, working together with the board, is adapted to give inclinations or' slopes of the land traveled over. Said clinometer apparatus includes or comprises a pendulum 6, pivoted upon a clamping-pin 7, so as to lie against the edge of the board or the box 8, set into said board flush with said edge conveniently out of the way when said clinometer is not in use. On the inside of the said box 8 is arranged a mainspring 9, to one end of which is secured the headed clamping-pin 7, said clamping-pin extending from said spring out through the walls of the box 8, as shown in Fig. 1, the head lying against the outer side of the pendulum.

At the outer end of the spring 9 it is provided with a push-piece 10 and a catch projection 11, the latter being adapted to enter beneath the pendulum, as indicated in Figs. 1 and 4, so as to hold it in parallel relation to the end of the'board, as shown in Fig. 4.

The catch projection 11 and push-piece 10 also project through perforations in the wall or side of the box 8 and have a limited sliding motion therein. The catch projection 11 and clamping-pin '7 are so related to the spring and push-button as that when said push-button is pressed inward the catch will be withdrawn from catching relation to the pendulum and the clamping-head will be loosened from engagement with said pendulum, the said pendulum thus being freed, so that the arm thereof having the weight 12 will gravitate to a vertical position. The operator, preliminary to effecting a reading of the slope of the ground over which he is traveling, raises the edge of the board having the clinometer apparatus to his eye and sights to an object above the ground at about the height therefrom equal to the height of his said eye. He then pushes in the pushbutton and releases the pendulum, and while still holding the board at the line of the distant object and the eye allows said pendulum to assume the vertical position. He then releases the push piece or button, when springs 13 and 14 within the box 8 act automatically to clamp the pendulum in said vertical position. These springs 13 and 14 are shown in Fig. 1 and are disposed one, 13, near the push-button at the side of the mainspring 9 opposite that toward the projecting end of the push-bu tton, while the other spring 14 resembles afulcrum and lies ata point between the fulcrum and the clamping-pin on the opposite side of the mainspring 9 and serves normally'to hold the headed clamping-pin in clamped relation to the pendulum, so that the latter cannot turn pivotally.

The pendulum having been fixed in its relation to the board by the automatic operation of the springs, as described, or in any other manner, the operator is free to drop the board from the line of sight and turn the same or otherwise manipulate it to take the reading. This is obtained by means of the Vernier 15 at the end of the shorter arm 16 of the pendulum, which Vernier is in coincidence with a series of degree-marks 17. After the reading is obtained the pendulum may be again turned into parallel relation to the board orbe otherwise manipulated to prevent its interfering with the other sketching operations.

The under side of the board is hollowed out or chambered to form a receptacle 117 for a rubber or eraser, colored pencils, and other tools or articles needed for making a map. This receptacle may be closed by a slide 20. Near the head of the board the same is bored to form pencil-receptacles 18 18, in which springs 19 are inserted to hold said pencils in place by friction.

In the center of the board, at the. rear, is embedded a female screw 21' for attaching a ball-and-socket joint of an ordinary J acobs staff, a tripod, or an upright for attaching the board to a bicycle.

WVhen the instrument is used on horseback or on foot without the tripod or J acobs staff, this female screw 21 serves to receive a swivel attachment 22 for a leather strap 23, as indi-' .cated in Fig. 2, by which the board may be meridian-line may now be projected on the paper by turning the ruler so that it will give the same reading on the protractor that the meridian-line does on the graduated margin of the compass. The point in the center of the protractor is the first station or starting point. The ruler {is now alined on all points which it is desired to include in the map and light lines are drawn at the slot. The sights are next alined upon the next station or some distantintermediate point and the ruler is clamped in position. Any points along the route of travel on a line with the two stations may be located on the map bysimply reading 011 the. scale of the ruler the distances given by a pedometer, cycloineter, or other means or method for rapidly measuring distance.

Should it be desired to take new bearings, a dot is made opposite the division of the scale of the ruler which locates the actual position of the observer. This point is now brought to the center of the ruler by rolling the paper until the point or dot comes opposite the center of the protractor and then sliding the protractor on its bearings until the point or dot appears in or at the center of the ruler. Now having the ruler reading the same as at the previous station, a back sight on that station with the sight nearest the observer which was farthest from him at the previous station orients the board, or the board may be oriented by allowing the needle to settle on the working meridian. New sights may then be taken, all as will be understood by those skilled in the-art.

Having thus described the invention, what I claim as new is 1. The improved sketching-board herein described, in which is combined with the board, having rollers at opposite edges, a sliding protractor movable in a direction parallel with the axes of said rollers and a ruler held by said protractor and adapted to be turned thereon, substantially as set forth.

2. In a sketching-board, the combination with the board a, rollers at opposite ends and a circular protractor sliding on said board, of a ruler having sights and adapted to turn within said protractor, substantially as set forth.

3. In a field-sketching case or board, the combination with the board having papercarrying rollers, friction-brakes for preventing said rollers from rotating, of bars or rods Z, Z, circular protractor 0, ruler p, and means for operating said ruler, all substantially as set forth.

4. In a field-sketching case, the combination with the board having paper-carrying rollers at its opposite sides a protractor movable in a direction at right angles to the direction of movement of the paper on said rollers and a ruler adapted to be turned 011 a center concentric with the center of the protractor, substantially as set forth.

5. In a field-sketching case, the combination with the board having a plain surface on which the drawings or sketches may be made and mountings providing means for moving the paper in a given direction, of a sliding protractor which is movable in a direction at right angles to the direction of movement of the paper, and a ruler adapted to be turned within the circumference of said protractor and having sights q, q, substantially as set forth.

6. In a field-sketching case or board, the combination with the board a, of bars or rods Z, a sliding protractor carried by said bars or rods and a longitudinally-slotted ruler adapted to be turned within the protractor, the slot of which ruler extends or lies across the center of turning of said ruler, said parts being arranged and operating substantially as set forth.

7. In a field-sketching case or board, the combination with the board a, of bars or rods, Z, immovable and fast upon said board, a sliding protractor carried by said rods and guided over the face of the board by said rods, and a longitudinally-slotted ruler, the upper surface of which, on opposite sides of the slot, inclines down toward said slot, and means for movably holding the paper at right angles to the guiding-bars, substantially as set forth.

8. In a field-sketching board, the combination with the board a, of a circular protractor having graduation-marks, a ruler and adj ustable compass carried by said board and having graduated circular surfaces corresponding with those of the protractor and adapted to operate, substantially as set forth.

9. I11 a field-sketchin g board, the combination with the board a, of a circular plate having a ruler adapted to turn in said plate, and a compass adj ustably arranged on said board and adapted to be fastened to said board to facilitate the placing of said board in the same relation to the points of the compass as at previous stations, substantially as set forth.

10. In a field-sketchingboard, the combination with the board a, of a protractor, a ruler adapted to turn in said protractor, and a compass and means for adjusting and clamping said compass upon the sketching-board, to hold said compass in fixed relation to said board while the surveyor is traveling from station to station, substantially as set forth.

11. In a field-sketching case, the combination with the board having on the upper face thereof a protractor and ruler each having grad uation-marks, and at the side edge thereof having graduation-marks indicating degrees and a pivoted pendulum havinga weight and Vernier at its opposite ends, of a paper-carrier and means for holding said paper smoothly upon the board, substantially as set forth.

12. In a field-sketching case, the combination with the board, having degree graduation-marks at the edge, of a pendulum pivoted at said edge and having a Vernier, and a clamp for holding said pendulum in a degree-indicating position, substantially as set forth.

13. In a field'sketching case or board, the combination with the board having projecting head and foot pieces providing journalbearings, rollers arranged between said projecting head and foot pieces, brakes for holding said rollers against rotation, rodsl Z, sliding protractor, and a ruler having sights, all arranged and combined, substantially as set forth.

let. In a field-sketching case, the combination with the board a, having a paper-carrier at opposite edges, a protractor and ruler at the front, of a female screw at the rear and a strap swiveled upon a male screw adapted to enter into said female screw, substantially as set forth.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing I have hereunto set my hand this 2d day of April, 1896.

MATTHEW A. BATSON. Vitnesses:

CHARLES H. PELL, O. B. PITNEY. 

